SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
More than one million high-resolution images from 860 of the world’s coral reefs have been made available to scientists by The University of Queensland and ocean conservation non-profit, Underwater Earth. Project leader UQ’s Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said the research and images were integral to better protecting the world’s reefs. “Coral reefs provide food and livelihoods … Read more
Research that could transform global rice production by increasing yields from the world’s number one food crop has been boosted by five more years of funding. The Australian National University (ANU) is part of an international collaboration between seven research partners, the C4 Rice Project, funded by a grant to the University of Oxford from … Read more
The recovery of pine marten in Ireland and Britain is reversing native red squirrel replacement by invasive grey squirrels, according to new research presented at the British Ecological Society’s annual meeting in Belfast today. Researchers at Queens University, Belfast and National Museums Northern Ireland have found red squirrels are responding positively to the increased presence … Read more
A model that uses genetic markers to accurately estimate the lifespans of different vertebrate species is presented in a study in Scientific Reports this week. The ‘lifespan clock’ screens 42 selected genes for CpG sites, short pieces of DNA whose density is correlated with lifespan, to predict how long members of a given vertebrate species may live. … Read more
Researchers from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, a joint institute of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) in Barcelona and the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen have unveiled the genome of the Carolina parakeet, declared extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. Researchers explored the … Read more
New research from a cross-organisational consortium in the Amazon has found indigenous knowledge to be as accurate as scientific transect monitoring. The research involved pooling resources between universities and NGO’s, including British universities Oxford Brookes University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Suffolk, to create a strong partnership of researchers from several institutions. Thais … Read more
The study simulated Chernobyl-levels of radiation exposure in a laboratory to investigate the impacts it may be having on insects inhabiting the exclusion zone. Although it has been previously found that bumblebees are sensitive to radiation, few studies have investigated the effects on their fitness. The dose rates of radiation in which negative effects occur … Read more
A new study in the journal PLOS One says Glacier National Park’s iconic mountain goats are in dire need of air conditioning. Researchers from the University of Montana, Glacier National Park, and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found that mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) in Glacier National Park seek out patches of snow in the summertime to reduce heat … Read more
Despite being four times thicker than human hair, elephant hair is only half as strong – that’s just one finding from researchers studying the hair strength of many different mammals. Their work, appearing in a paper publishing December 11 in the journal Matter, shows that thin hair tends to be stronger than thick hair because of … Read more
As the climate changes, myriad animal populations are being impacted. In particular, Arctic sea-ice is in decline, causing polar bears in the Barents Sea region to alter their feeding and hunting habits. Bears that follow sea-ice to offshore areas have higher pollutant levels than those staying on land – but why? A new study in … Read more